There is something in the air, or maybe in the water, here in New England that produces political men who seem deranged and obsessed. Case in point is the latest tirade by our Senator Whitehouse before an EPA Climate Leaders Summit held at the Johnson & Wales University, as reported by the Beacon. He makes a number of outrageous statements, which should be on the front burner for everyone in Rhode Island because he employs the language of the egomaniac dedicated to ridding the world of evil by threats, coercion and termination – these are not exaggerations, just listen to his words. His is a three-step plan to eradicate the evil, and for him the greatest evil is the polluter. The first step is to make the polluters “stare down the barrel of the regulatory gun” and “make the big polluters pay a fee to the American people.” His second step is to make the polluters’ “political allies fearful of a well funded super pack dedicated to their demise” and finally is the “gathering of the armies” to battle these polluters.

The senator has the passion of the abolitionists of the 19th century who drove this country to war to destroy the South and to subvert the Constitution because they were the righteous ones! Like the egomaniacal Captain Ahab, he must rid the world of the elusive great white whale, Moby Dick, and will destroy himself, his ship and crew to do so. These polluters are to be driven from our shores so Senator Whitehouse can live without his fear of rising sea waters and horrific storms.

Since he does not mention who these polluters are, let’s fill in the blanks. In a few days, we will all gather at grandma’s house and will pause to remember in thought, word or deed those brave men and women who stood their ground in Plymouth and those who have done likewise since for almost 400 years to become the mighty nation that we are blessed with today. And to get to grandma’s house, we jam the highways with cars, pickups and buses, all powered by the fossil fuels produced by the big oil and gas companies; we fill the sky with thousands of airliners burning millions of gallons of jet fuel; and grandma heats her home, cooks the turkey and cools her refrigerated dishes – all powered by the power plant operators burning tons and tons of gas, coal and oil. And we would not have it any other way because that is what we do here in the USA!

It is ironic that just when this country is on the cusp of becoming energy independent of the gangster OPEC cartel that has ripped us off for decades, along comes the righteous Captain Ahab with 50 speeches to the Senate on climate change and a fervent desire to squelch our new found freedom.